tiv

Like Crosswinds says finding a good mechanic/workshop being difficult is not entirely accurate. The issue is finding a cheap "baas" who will do a sticking plaster job to get the car on the road till the day you sell it to some poor sob is difficult. Even these buggers charge an arm and a leg now

Hmmm.....2.4L RAV4 10 years old....2.5L Mark X 11 years old....1.6L Corolla Wagon 19 years old...2.7L Fortuner 5 years old. None of these cars have been stuck in garages for ages apart from the regular service and scheduled maintenance work...so...every 5K-7.5K....and every other 10K kms or so...as for wear of suspension items...again....if you use proper parts...they will last as much as the components of a brand new car. Wear and tear on things like shock absorbers are more dependant on the road conditions and the mileage you put on them rather than the age of the car. Again...in SL these repairs don't last because we use sub standard parts or instead of doing repairs based on manufacture recommendations we use alternative methods (e.g. according to the manufacturer bushes of a lower control arm should not be replaced..the entire arm should be and that lasts for 10 years or even more....in SL we pack in the bushings which after a few years may start to give issues..)

Basically what tic is saying is...why do Sri Lankans want to live way beyond their means ? and then complain about not having money for fuel and repairs and food and how sucky the economy is

Exactly! finding a proper maintained second hand car where only new/original parts have been used is very difficult,you don't normally know what you are getting into. Also people don't have extra time to spend in garages for mechanical updates. The alternative is to sell an arm and leg and get a brand new , and expect some peace of mind. Because of the tax update,1 L new models have come to similar range like 2nd hand regular models. A 5 year old Prius will be 8 years old when the Lease is over,and more difficult to sell than a 3 year old Civic 1L turbo. I personally prefer a non hybrid with a proper engine than the new 1L,but not everyone has time and motivation to spend on a car after buying (even for gas!?)

Well that is the Sri Lankan cycle isn't it ? We complaint about not having money to maintain a car properly or spend on fuel because we have to buy new cars by selling an arm and a leg and putting your first born as collateral....

then go on to maintaining the brand new shiny car with shitty parts  whilst complaining about genuine parts being expensive (mainly because the genuine parts don't get sold because they get outsold by the cheap parts..which we buy because we don't have money as we spent it all on buying that shiny new car because it was the thing easy thing to do whilst impressing the neighbors).

so the brand new car becomes a crappy used car...

and then we complain about having to buy a brand new car because the used cars are crappy.

Then we complain about the government screwing up so badly because the currency keeps devaluing and losing our fx reserves...but ignore the fact that our brand new cars are a huge contributor towards our money draining out. If the government tries to restrict car imports people yell saying it is a violation of their human rights....but then the government doesn't want to restrict car imports either because it is one of the biggest ways to fatten their wallets. 

So what gives ?